That's why I said you win.
In the USA it is totally accepted that VFR can request flight following directly to ATC but they are not allowed to make self announcements on the same frequencies.
You say this is " completely incoherent ". Maybe to you but it is a fact.
To me and many others it appears totally rational.
Remember it's just not the initial announcement. It's the " radio arranged separation" that follows that is more of a problem. If you remember Bloggs and others would not accept that alerted see and avoid works at places like Launceston. They want both aircraft to start communicating and arrange separation. This really blocks up an ATC frequency.